West Ham manager Slaven Bilic will no doubt spend much of his birthday nervously anticipating Monday's must-win game against Huddersfield at the London Stadium.
The Hammers sit bottom of the Premier League after failing to pick up a point from their opening three matches, but return home for the first time this season after being kept away by the World Athletics Championships.
The match is set against the backdrop of a spat between the club's board and Sporting Lisbon following West Ham's failed attempt to sign William Carvalho, while Bilic will be keen to show he is the right man to clean up the on-field mess.
In his Standard Sport column on Friday, Bilic hit back at suggestions he had already "thrown in the towel" and wrote about his determination to "put this right".
And West Ham defender James Collins says the players owe Bilic the birthday present of an improved display.
“Birthday or not everyone at the club would like to get the boss three points,” said Collins.
“He’s been under tremendous pressure. It’s crazy in football that the managers get put under so much pressure when sometimes really the players need to look at themselves.
“We know we haven’t performed and the manager has done the best he can. I feel like we owe the gaffer a performance and hopefully we can do that on Monday.”
